Plum and Apple

First Published1918

Writer/composerJames Heard, Melville Gideon and Herman DarewskiRoudRN10545

Music Hall PerformersCast of "The Better Ole" Revue
Folk performancesCollected from the singing of:
Anonymous Australian troops by Warren Fahey
Twenty little soldiers were sitting in a row, 
Grousing at the whizz bangs and swearing at the foe.
"Oh! For just a rump steak! Wish I had the chance! 
Seems to me the only thing they ever grow in France
Is..

Plum and Apple, Apple and plum, 
Plum and apple, we have always some. 
The ASC get strawberry jam and our rations of rum; 
But all we poor blokes ever get is apple and plum

Twenty little soldiers, they heard the "rooty call"
Got their serviettes out, in the dining hall.
"What you got today, Bill? Chicken and champagne?
Strike me up and Apple tree! Well here we are again!

A wartime song, whose chorus at least was widely sung by troops from English-speaking nations in World War I.

This song was first sung as part of the revue The Better ‘Ole, based on the humorous cartoons of Charles Bairnsfather. The production opened at London’s Oxford Theatre (formerly the Oxford Music Hall) in August 1917.

Strictly speaking, this song originates in a theatrical revue rather than the Halls, though the production did include the Music Hall star Tom Woottwell in a leading role. ( A revue in this context is a series of sketches, dances and songs linked together by a loose plot or theme. A Music Hall performance changed from week to week as the line up changed, a revue would be substantially the same in every performance.)

The song was sung in the trenches by Australian, American and British troops and was not the only song to complain about the jam in World War 1, for example Take me back to dear old Blighty and Fred Hilton’s Plum and Apple) but there are others ..

It appears both in Warren Fahey’s 2015 collection Diggers (Songs of Australians at War) and in Popular Songs of the A.E.F. [American Expeditionary Force] published in 1918. Diggers is widely available on commercial streaming services.

Sources:

  • VWML entry
  • Kilgarrif Sing Us
  • Lyrics and Sheet Music: Herman Darewski’s First Song Annual p30
  • Image Courtesy of Imperial War Museum
  • The Better Ole in the Great War Theatre database
  • British Newspaper Archive (various articles and adverts)

Last Updated on May 2, 2023 by John Baxter | Published: May 2, 2023

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